I might be able to do that… but I don’t get paid in advance, it’s all after the fact reimbursement unless I opt for a cash advance. Since my company has a very efficient reimbursement system I put it on a credit card and this Friday will pay the card off so as not to incur any interest (in fact, I’ll be paying the balance before I even get the statement).
I’ll think about that one. Now that I’ve gotten my overtime and holiday pay I might be able to swing that, but I’m still not convinced it’s the right choice for me.
At most, I’m going to help out opening a store one more time this year, after which I won’t need the I-Pass. If you still have money on the account and want to close it do you get the balance refunded or is it use it or lose it?
Two words: “Expense account”
I’m not actually paying for it, the company is. I did not, in fact, go to Colectivo for espresso (I went to QtM’s place for tea, and it was undoubtedly a much better option IMO). I stayed well within the allowed per diem for food, and since I would personally gain nothing by spending less I saw no reason to forgo absolutely all treats.
The cool thing is that it allowed the Other Half to eat a little better, too, since our food budget at home was going to feed just one person. One of the reasons for taking this trip was that it represented a slight financial bump to the household, not just from the extra hours and the time-and-a-half for working a holiday but also because of us not needing to pay to feed me for two weeks.
Yes.
And, like I said, the airspace above Chicago is usually as busy as the freeways on the ground. I know a lot of pilots who prefer someone riding shotgun with them to look for traffic or otherwise help out.
For what it’s worth, any travel expense account I’ve ever been on would consider the $10 i-Pass deposit a travel expense if it saved money overall, and then the i-Pass would just be a bonus for you that you could use for whatever you wanted (and future business trips). Look at it from their perspective: it may be cheaper to buy you an i-Pass and let you keep it than it would be to have you just pay cash. Maybe you should ask about that if you have more work trips in the future.
It looks like it was around $20 in cash tolls one way anyway. Round trip, they certainly would have saved money. Again, if they’re in Indiana it would make more sense to buy an E-ZPass rather than an I-Pass from next door.
I rented back when I could afford to fly, but I lost the job that paid for such hobbies back in 2007 and I’ve been dirt poor ever since. Fortunately, I’ve also managed to stay out of debt, unlike **cymk **who apparently had trouble with creditors and the IRS, but the result is I have very few resources.
One problem is that the expense reporting system is computerized and VERY rigid. There is literally no place to put that expense. Approval of any deviation requires the consent of someone of higher rank than my store director, which I’m not even sure how to contact. The system is really set up, at least at my level, for cash tolls and not a transponder. Seeing as these trips are not a regular part of my job duties I’m not sure how to put that through the system.
Pretty sure I read a while back that Ipass units were to be used by only 1 car (a change from past policy.) But, yeah, getting an Ipass is so simple and cheap, it really shouldn’t be an impediment. Or driving in the right lane if you have so much difficulty reading signs and changing lanes.
Sure, the Tristate sucks. And the Illinois tollway system has a long and colorful history of waste and graft. Customer service clearly has not been the primary motivation.
In the past year I drove tollways in Denver and LA where there were no toll booths. Anyone without atransponder either paid online or was mailed an invoice. Seemed like a pretty decent system (tho I was a little concerned at first being so used to IL’s cash option.)
Yeah, folk drive fast on 294. heard recently that the AVERAGE speed was in the low 70s - more than 15 over the limit. But I found the LA driving much worse. At least on 294 there is a tendency for faster drivers to use the left lanes, and you don’t have bikes splitting lanes.
If I were struggling so much for money that $30 really meant the difference between eating or not eating, I wouldn’t be trying to minimize the time I was gettting paid to drive somewhere.
Of course, I probably would also not be spending much time writing internet rants either, unless I was getting paid to do so.
Well, yeah, but I think my employer would look at a claim it took me 12 hours to drive from Highland to Grafton with some suspicion. Honesty does pay off at least somewhat in the long run.
Believe it or not, I do get paid for my writing from time to time. I tend to keep quiet about it, and also separate my “broomstick” persona from the ones I employ for profit.
You can use a transponder in more than one car but each car must be registered for the transponder. I think you can have up to five vehicles registered to a single transponder.
Their own website has a method for adding additional vehicles to the account, so there isn’t an explicit one-car policy that I could see. And the I-Pass manual (warning: PDF), also says explicitly in the FAQ that you can use it on multiple vehicles, as long as the vehicle is registered to the I-Pass account.
Yes, my sister and I share an iPass since we have so much family down in IL. Both our vehicles and plates are registered through the website.
Looking at the toll records, it’s rather astonishing how much money we’ve save over the years because the iPass MISSED charging for tolls. It’s pretty common to go through a stretch of 3 or 4 toll plazas and later find that it simply didn’t charge for 1 or 2 of them.
Somehow I knew you would put an exaggerated suggestion of lying in my mouth. I must be psychic.
Of course I suggested no such thing. If the drive legitimately takes 4 hours - with a “record” drive time of 8 hours being reimbursed - why not just do the drive as is and be happy for the opportunity to earn a week’s worth of groceries to boot?
Who is paying you to rail against helpful suggestions on the SDMB?
Broom, I like you a lot. But you’re acting like a jerk in this thread. Beyond that, if you can’t change lanes twice in a mile you’re probably not ready for highways. Or, you might just consider staying on the right.
If there’s no field for “ipass”, there’s probably one for “meals”. So long as your supervisor approves it (get it in writing) shove the dollar amount in there.